


Alternative Lullaby

by justanoutlaw



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Babies, F/M, Lullabies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22156621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanoutlaw/pseuds/justanoutlaw
Summary: Neal catches Emma singing their daughter one of their favorite songs.
Relationships: Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Emma Swan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Alternative Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by anonymous on CuriousCat: Neal catching Emma in there baby's nursery, as she quitely sings "only you" to him or her.

Babies were exhausting. Had no one mentioned that before?  
  


No, of course they had. All throughout Emma’s, pregnancy, Neal and her had heard “You’ll never sleep the same again”. They shrugged it off. They had fought off monsters, witches of all kinds and even the literal devil. They had survived on little sleep before and they could do it again.

Neal wished he had listened and not rolled his eyes when Aurora had told him that babies were a different ball game. He hadn’t had time to shave since his daughter’s birth and he could feel the scruff he was getting. Their lives revolved around changing diapers, late night feedings and being zombies throughout the day. People kept saying it’d get better, but he wasn’t sure he believed that either. Mulan laughed at him when he accused her of being a liar.

He loved his daughter. She had found her way into his heart, just as quickly as Henry had when he found out about him. Neal just hoped that soon, they’d be able to sleep.

One night in particular, Neal took a shower after a particularly messy diaper. As he stepped out, he could hear Tallie crying again. It was his night on duty, so he quickly pulled up some boxers and a wrinkled white t-shirt. He headed down the hall, not even attempting to contain his yawn. As he started to push back the door to the nursery, however, he realized that his daughter wasn’t crying anymore.

Emma sat in the rocking chair; their daughter settled in her arms. His wife looked just as tired as he felt. Her blonde curls were frazzled and she wore an oversized Queen t-shirt over her plaid pajama pants. Despite that, her voice was soft. She wasn’t…no, Emma didn’t sing, did she?

Yet, she was. Neal leaned in the doorway, catching some of the lyrics that she serenaded their daughter with.

_This is gonna take a long time_

_And I wonder what’s mine_

_Can’t take no more_

_Wonder if you’ll understand_

_It’s just a touch of your hand_

_Behind a closed door_

Neal grinned, shaking his head. “Never too young to teach the kid our song.”

Emma’s eyes didn’t leave the baby. “Shut up, I don’t know any lullabies.”

“Twinkle Twinkle?”

“Didn’t I say shut up?”

He chuckled, taking a step into the nursery. License plates from every state they had been in lined the walls. Emma had chosen yellow for the walls, like her bug. Most of everything Tallie owned was that color. People joked she’d rebel and be wearing pink by age 5, especially if her grandma Snow had anything to do about it.

Neal plopped down on the ottoman. “It’s my night.”

She shrugged. “I woke up, she was crying.”

He sighed. “I love her this small. I just hope the three of us get more sleep soon.”

“I think she would agree.”

“Her? She gets multiple naps throughout the day.”

Emma laughed, shaking her head. “I will miss her when I go back to work in a couple of weeks…but I think I need to so I don’t go crazy.” She bit her lip. “That doesn’t make me a bad mom, does it?”

“Of course it doesn’t. Look at all the moms in our lives. They work,” he looked down at his daughter. “There’s no right or wrong way when it comes to this. Besides, Tallie will see her kickass sheriff mama growing up.”

Emma smiled, stroking the baby’s cheek. “Well, I’d say let’s hope it’s a way to keep her out of trouble, but she is our kid.”

“We gave her those troublemaking genes, didn’t we?”

“At least we’ll know all the tricks before she does them.”

“True.” He looked down at a now sleeping Tallie. “We should head back to bed before we wake her back up.”

“In a minute.” Emma sighed. “I never thought I’d be the type to marvel at a baby…but she’s…”

“Ours?”

“Perfect.”

“She’s that too, in every way.”


End file.
